The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa was founded in 1907 as a land-grant college of agriculture and mechanical arts. A bill by Maui Representative William Coelho introduced into the Territorial Legislature March 1, 1907 and signed into law March 23rd by the Governor enabled construction to begin. In 1912 it was renamed the College of Hawaii and moved to its present location. William Kwai Fong Yap petitioned the Hawaii Territorial Legislature six years later for university status which led to another renaming finally to the University of Hawaii in 1920. This is also the founding year of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1931 the Territorial Normal and Training School was absorbed into the University, becoming the U.H. College of Education.

Today, the primary facet of the University consists of the four Colleges of Arts and Sciences: Arts and Humanities, Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. The college of agriculture and mechanical arts is now the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR), one of the few agricultural colleges in the United States focused on the tropics. UH Mānoa is home to two of the state's most prominent professional schools. The William S. Richardson School of Law and the School of Medicine are the only law and medical schools in Hawaiʻi. It is also home to the Shidler College of Business which has the only AACSB accredited graduate business program in the state.The Center for Hawaiian Studies provides 'excellence in the pursuit of knowledge concerning the Native people of Hawaii.[7]

Together, the colleges of the university offer bachelor's degrees in 93 fields of study, master's degrees in 84 fields, doctoral degrees in 51 fields, first professional degrees in 5 fields, post-baccalaureate degrees in 3 fields, 28 undergraduate certification programs and 29 graduate certification programs. Total enrollment in 2012 was 20,429 students, 14,402 of which are undergraduates. There are approximately sixteen students per instructor.

With extramural grants and contracts of $436 million in 2012, research at UH-Mānoa relates to Hawaii's physical landscape, its people and their heritage. The geography facilitates advances in marine biology, oceanography, underwater robotic technology, astronomy, geology and geophysics, agriculture, aquaculture and tropical medicine. Its heritage, the people and its close ties to the Asian and Pacific region create a favorable environment for study and research in the arts, genetics, intercultural relations, linguistics, religion and philosophy.[8]

Extramural funding increased from $368 million in FY 2008 to nearly $436 million in FY 2012. Research grants increased from $278 million in FY 2008 to $317 million in FY 2012. Nonresearch awards totaled $119 million in FY 2012. Overall, extramural funding increased by 18%.[8][9]

The National Science Foundation ranked UH Manoa 45th among 395 public universities for Research and Development (R&D) expenditures in fiscal year 2014.[10]

For the period of July 1, 2012 to June 20, 2013, the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) received the largest amount of extramural funding among the Manoa units at $92 million. SOEST was followed by the medical school at $57 million, the College of Natural Sciences and the University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center at $24 million, the Institute for Astronomy at $22 million, CTARH at $18 million, and the College of Social Sciences and the College of Education at $16 million.[11]

The $150-million medical complex in Kaka‘ako opened in the spring of 2005. The facility houses a state-of-the-art biomedical research and education center that attracts significant federal funding and private sector investment in biotechnology and cancer research and development.

Research (broadly conceived) is expected of every faculty member at UH Mānoa. Also, according to the Carnegie Foundation, UH Mānoa is an RU/VH (very high research activity) level research university.[12]

In 2013, UH Mānoa was elected to membership in the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the leading consortium of research universities for the region. APRU represents 45 premier research universities—with a collective 2 million students and 120,000 faculty members—from 16 economies.[13]

According to the 2010 report of the Institutional Research Office, a plurality of students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa are Caucasian making up twenty-five percent of the student body. Other backgrounds include Japanese Americans (13%) percent, native or part native Hawaiians (13%), Filipino Americans (8%) and Chinese Americans (7%). Twelve percent are racially mixed. Smaller populations of Pacific Islanders and other ethnic groups make up the balance.

All UH Mānoa residence halls are coeducational. These include the Hale Aloha Complex, Johnson Hall, Hale Laulima, and Hale Kahawai. Suite-style residence halls include Frear Hall and Gateway House. First year undergraduates who choose to live on campus live in the traditional residence halls.[14]

Two apartment-style complexes are Hale Noelani and Hale Wainani. Hale Noelani consists of five three-story buildings and Hale Wainani has two high rise buildings (one 14-story and one 13-story) and two low rise buildings. Second year undergraduates and above are permitted to live in Hale Noelani and Hale Wainani.[14]

The university reserves some low rise units for graduate students and families.[15]

UH-Mānoa has 19 schools and colleges, including the School of Architecture, School of Earth Science and Technology, the College of Arts and Humanities, the Shidler College of Business, the College of Education and the College of Engineering. The College of Business Administration was renamed the Shidler College of Business on September 6, 2006, after real estate executive Jay Shidler, an alumnus of the college, who donated $25 million to the college.[16]

The University of Hawaii at Manoa Library, which provides access to 3.4 million volumes, 50,000 journals, and thousands of digitized documents, is one of the largest academic research libraries in the United States, ranking 86th in parent institution investment among 113 North American members of the Association of Research Libraries.[17]

The National Science Foundation ranked UH Manoa 45th among 395 public universities for Research and Development (R&D) expenditures in fiscal year 2014.[10]

For 2017, UH Mānoa was ranked tied for 169th among national universities and tied for 89th among public universities in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report.[26] In graduate school rankings for 2016, U.S. News & World Report ranked the School of Medicine tied for 19th in the country for primary care, the College of Education 76th, the Law School tied for 82nd, the School of Nursing tied for 83rd, the College of Engineering tied for 140th, with the Shidler College of Business' part-time MBA program ranked 140th in the nation.[26]

The University offers over 50 distance learning courses, using technology to replace either all or a portion of class instruction. Students interact with their instructors and peers from different locations to further develop their education.[27]

The Newman Center / Catholic Campus Ministry serves the community at the University and surrounding area.

The Lyon Arboretum is the only tropical arboretum belonging to any US University. The Arboretum, located in Mānoa Valley, was established in 1918 by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association to demonstrate watershed restoration and test tree species for reforestation, as well as to collect living plants of economic value. In 1953, it became part of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Its over 15,000 accessions focus primarily on the monocot families of palms, gingers, heliconias, bromeliads and aroids.

The Waikiki Aquarium, founded in 1904, is the third-oldest public aquarium in the United States. A part of the University of Hawaiʻi since 1919, the Aquarium is located next to a living reef on the Waikiki shoreline.

In 2016 the UH Manoa Faculty Senate approved a resolution of no confidence in the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Reed Dasenbrock.[31][32]

In 2010, the university received criticism over its data policies after several high-profile data breaches.[33] In 1999, there was controversy within the Mānoa campus dealing with the accreditation of the School of Public Health.[34]